[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 44 (Thursday, April 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1470-H1472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN MEMORY OF SCOTT BILLINGSLEY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to deliver a tribute to M.
Scott Billingsley, legislative director for Colorado's Sixth
Congressional District from December 15, 2001, to March 25, the day of
his death.
First and foremost, I am honored today to share with you Scott's
dedication to his career, his fellow man and his country. Mr. Speaker,
my staff and I were given the great privilege of working with Scott for
the last few months of his life. When Scott became my legislative
director this past December, he instantly gained my respect and, more
importantly, generated a sense of enthusiasm in his office which
empowered my staff to reach their personal best and to strive to work
toward perfection. Scott's infectious personality and poise drew people
close to him. We instantly enjoyed getting to know him and were eager
to learn from him.
Scott possessed a rare gift that allowed him to do his job
thoroughly, in a way that nurtured the work ethic of his peers while at
the same time enabled him to act as a mentor.
Mr. Speaker, we were blessed to have Scott in our lives. Scott will
always be remembered as a person who lived life to the fullest, with a
passion for knowledge and a sincere desire to make a difference in the
lives of those around him and the people of Colorado's Sixth
Congressional District.
The news of his sudden death saddened all of us beyond words. His
presence is irreplaceable, his character exceptional.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit Scott's eulogy delivered by both
his father and fiancee for the Congressional Record.
It is important to let history know that Mr. Billingsley was a man
who dedicated his life to improve the livelihood of his fellow citizens
and America.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote a verse from the
Bible. In the short time we were blessed with Scott in our lives, we
believe he would say these words to help ease the hearts of all those
who knew and loved him. The scripture is from Numbers 6:24-26:
``The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine
down upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee and give thee peace.''
While losing Scott was tragic, his spirit remains with all of us.
Eulogy by Scott's Father, Dr. Michael L. Billingsley
(march 30, 2002, grace episcopal church, colorado springs)
To the Family and Friends of Michael Scott Billingsley:
This is the most difficult thing that a father ever has to
do, but I must say a few words about our son. Most of you
have known and loved Scott for some or all of his 32 years,
and I know you are devastated by this loss. His mother and I,
his sister, and our family are crushed beyond words, and I
don't know if we will ever completely recover from this.
Scott and Rebecca have always been our life and our joy. I
have no words to express the pain his passing has caused.
We are comforted, however, by our firm belief, that only
Scott's physical presence is gone. His spirit is everlasting,
and is bound up in than mysterious force, that binds us all
together, the Holy Spirit of God.
I will let others recount Scott's accomplishments and
attributes. We all know that he achieved much in his short
time with us. He was a gifted and talented young man, and
contributed a great deal to the lives of all who knew him
well.
I would like to focus for a moment on his spirit, the
enduring essence of his being. Scott's spirit is fiercely
independent. From the beginning, he asserted his uniquely
individual style, never egotistical, but always assertive,
and firm in his convictions. From his earliest use of words
and phrases, Scott was an able debater and advocate. When
Rebecca was only 2 years old, and Scott 5, she refused to
talk, though able, because she had only to point at something
she wanted, and Scott would instantly become her legal
counsel, explaining in full sentences what Rebecca really
meant to say. I don't remember a time, when he was at a loss
for words. Blessed with a keen intellect, and once convinced
of the merits of his position, he was a formidable partisan
for his issue. His assertiveness was, more often than not,
balanced with sincere sense of fairness, and respect for his
opponent. His friends will tell you that he was always up to
a debate on nearly any issue, and was even occasionally
willing to consider other reasonable and well thought out
points of view; that is, if he couldn't readily destroy their
argument.
Scott's is a loyal spirit. His bonding to kindred souls,
regardless of differences of opinion, was remarkable. Some of
his best friends were often his polar opposites on world and
political views. His spirit was able to transcend those
differences and inspire comradeship in many of the ``loyal
opposition,'' as he might describe them. Finding and bonding
with the essential goodness in others was one of his great
strengths. Often through humor and wit, Scott could bridge
strong differences in opinion and diffuse anger and
confrontation. Scott's sense of humor was treasured by our
family. He was always able to bring laughter to even the most
contentious family matters. As many of you know, he could
incite hysterical laughter in his sister with a mere gesture
or an off-hand remark.
The real center of Scott's spirit is love. A great deal of
this attribute certainly came from the unending love and
nurturing of his mother, his wonderful relationship with his
sister, his grandparents, his aunts and uncles, and his
cousins. He was fortunate to have many long-lasting close
friendships from high school, college, law school, and from
his work experiences in Washington. My personal relationship
with him was almost perfect. We agreed on almost every
philosophical principal. Our last game, a week ago, was a
tie. We didn't even have a
[[Page H1471]]
playoff. All of these life experiences helped develop in
Scott a strong sense of compassion and justice. There is
more, however, that came from Scott himself. In the past few
years, he has developed a closer relationship with God, and
had been at last, able to make many life shaping decisions.
The most important decision was to marry Katie, his soul-
mate, to whom he had dedicated his life. She brought him
great joy, laughter, and fulfillment. His mother and I know
that since meeting Katie, he had more direction and
contentment than ever before. After a recent reunion with
Scott, Rebecca remarked that she had never seen so much
happiness and joy in her brother's life. Our hearts weep for
you Katie, God bless you.
Something that I had not been able to verbalize before, has
occurred to me over the past few days. It is the realization
that Scott is a rare and very special person, who has the
gift of connecting to people in a way that most of us can
only wonder at and admire. Scott is one of the glue people
that hold us together, who can transcend our differences and
make us feel part of the same whole. I have known a few other
extraordinary people like this, whose presence remains with
me, and we all have these feelings for members of our
families. But Scott had a special ability to connect with
even those of short acquaintance, to build and maintain
special ties. I believe that God was and is doing his work,
through Scott, and continues to use his spirit to connect us.
His mother, sister, Katie, and I have certainly felt his
continuing presence, as I am sure many of you have also. Let
Scott's life, and continuing presence, help us all understand
this binding of our spirits, the inescapable conclusion that
we are not alone, now and forever.
We will miss your person so much, Scott, but we will always
be comforted knowing that your spirit lives. This is not the
end, but only the beginning. We know that you will always be
with us, by the grace of God, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit.
____
``Scott's Faith'' by Katie McNerney
(march 30, 2002, grace episcopal church, colorado springs)
I look out today to a group of people, most of whom have
known Scott far longer than me. During the last 10 years in
DC, he was physically quite far away, although I know he did
a great job of staying in touch by phone and e-mail and
occasional visits. I thought it would be helpful to take some
time to share with you some of the more recent aspects of
Scott's life. After 3\1/2\ years of spending nearly every day
with him, I was blessed to witness the increasing growth of
this remarkable man I called my fiance, best friend and soul
mate. I'd like to start talking about Scott by focusing on an
areas of his life that not many people knew about. His faith.
When we first met, Scott and I were at about the same place
in our spiritual lives. Scott's parents, grandparents, and
other family and friends clearly influenced his strong value
system and his faith. Similarly I was raised in a
conservative Christian family, but neither of us felt very
comfortable using Jesus' name in conversation and we were
often wary of those who did. However, in the last few years,
Scott and I together shared a number of experiences that
introduced us to a new faith and began a relationship with
Jesus that strengthened over time.
One of those experiences involved a routine surgery two
years ago. After an adverse reaction to anesthesia, Scott's
heart stopped and he had to be resuscitated, three times.
When the doctor came into the waiting room and told me the
news, my shock and fear quickly turned to relief and
gratitude because Scott was going to be okay. And he was
going to be okay. Scott left the ICU with a new perspective
on life. And it's not like what you see in the movies when
people all of the sudden start giving away their worldly
possessions or vow to find the cure for cancer. Instead,
Scott started focusing internally on how he could become a
better person. And as you already know he was starting from
an excellent foundation. But he knew there was something
missing in his life.
We began to pray together, sometimes in thanksgiving for
having found each other, our soul mates, and sometimes out of
pain for friends who we lost or family tragedies or even
challenges at work. Scott started joining me for church
regularly and began to like the weekly practice. Of course,
the hours after mass were the times when Scott really loved
to debate the sermon with me. And, of course, he'd always
win. But I could hear the passion in his voice and see the
changes he was making in his life. Over time, this was one of
the many ways that Scott and I fell in love. We were putting
Christ at the center of our relationship and, if you can
imagine a triangle with Jesus at the top, and Scott and me at
the other angles, the closer we each moved to Jesus, the
closer we moved to each other. Scott loved that image, and he
became increasingly committed to making sure he was growing
spiritually individually and together with me. Last fall,
Scott began meeting with a good friend on Capitol Hill for
regular Bible studies. Scott and I also enrolled in the Alpha
Course, a course on Christianity many churches offer for new
Christians or ones that need some brushing up. For those of
you who knew Scott, he mastered the art of arriving
fashionably late to most things, but to the Alpha Course he
was on time, every week. Even in the midst of some of the
busiest months at his job, he would leave work right at 6:30,
pick me up, and we would drive over to the Falls Church
together.
Last Thursday, Scott asked me to meet him for lunch,
something we didn't often have a chance to do during the work
week. He wanted to attend a forum by the Faith and Politics
Institute. Heather Mercer, the young woman who was held in
captivity by the Taliban for 90 days last fall, was there to
address a small group of Congressmen and aides. I got the
invitation at 12 noon and by 12:30, Scott and I were in the
Longworth Building listening in awe as Heather recounted
the story of her heroic and faith-filled mission. At one
point, when Heather was describing that she loved the Lord
so much that she was willing to give her life, Scott
reached out and took my hand in his. His eyes welled with
tears, as did mine, and I knew then that Scott had truly
accepted Jesus as his savior. I was blessed to have
witnessed Scott's spiritual growth and his family and I
are at peace knowing that he is now with his everlasting
father in heaven.
On Tuesday night, more than 40 people back in DC gathered
to pay tribute to Scott and shared remarkable stories. A
recruiting theme was Scott's unwavering passion for
everything he did. At work, his love for sports, and his love
for his family and friends. Scott approached his work with
more passion than anyone I knew. From the moment he arrived
to work until he left at night, oftentimes late into the
night, he was committed to making sure his government was
doing the right thing. Scott never questioned the value of
his work or contributions. As a lawyer, you'd think this
conviction would have made him want to be a prosecutor. But
Scott also had a deep passion for policy. Just last week,
Scott spent days working on the new immigration legislation
for his congressman. After just spending a day on the Hill
watching the legislation being made, I asked Scott about his
day. Of course, he quoted Bismarck that you should never
watch two things being made ``sausage and legislation''.
Despite his exhaustion, for the next three hours, he
explained to me all the intricate details of immigration
reform and why Congressman Tancredo was so right. For
``fun'', we spent the next Saturday morning watching a video
on INS reform.
Prior to joining Congressman Tancredo's office, Scott took
on one of his most important professional responsibilities,
to bring justice to the former Presidential Administration's
irresponsible handling of the pardons for the House
Government Reform Committee. The Final report, released just
weeks ago, is a clear reflection of Scott's diligence,
consistent commitment to the pursuit of justice, and his
dedication to his job and his coworkers. The report is one of
those tangible reminders that we have of Scott's intelligence
and his love of public policy. The Committee often required
long hours of wading through document after document and
typing up pages upon pages of footnotes. Scott never
complained and once, when a coworker was staying late with
the team, despite it being her boyfriend's birthday, Scott
called her later to apologize. It wasn't anyone's fault. It
was their job, but Scott felt compassion for his friend.
Scott was a wonderful teacher and always shared what he knew
about issues with people. I work in a mostly Democrat office,
so as the lone Republican, I relied on Scott for material. He
would often get e-mails from me two and three times a day
saying ``okay, how would you debate this issue and give me
some facts to back it up'' just so I could go back to my
office mates with all my vast knowledge. No matter what he
was doing or how busy he was, he would send two or three
articles within two minutes, and he would add a line at the
bottom of the e-mail saying ``Go get'em, sweetie.''
Scott also loved to travel and learn about geography,
languages, different cultures, and new people. There were few
times, if any, where you didn't walk away from the conversion
with Scott and not have learned something. The one book on
his dresser that never collected dust was Scott's atlas. He
loved looking something up and reading about places all over
the world, places he hoped we would visit someday. This
Christmas, Scott bought me an atlas, so he could have an
extra copy at my place too! He would point out places he had
visited like Brazil, where he lived in Germany, and where he
visited in Italy for work in Dec. 2000. We joked with him
that the trip to Italy was a boondoggle, but Scott genuinely
felt that the trip's mission, to combat organized crime, was
of critical importance. He also had fun stories when he
returned, of being in the real town of Corleone. Isn't it
ironic, he told me, that they stamped out crime in most of
Sicily? In a weird way, Scott was saddened by this. The
Godfather was his favorite movie.
Scott was so full of love, for his parents, Diane and Mike,
whom he adored and whom he could not wait to return to
Colorado to be near, for his sister Rebecca whom he so
admired for her intelligence, strength of character, and
sense of humor. Last night, I spent a few hours talking with
Scott's high school friends. Of course, they were recounting
stories that I had heard from Scott a hundred times before. I
am in awe of the friendships that Scott created--life long
friendships that Scott cultivated with great care. Steve,
Joe, Mark and Mike were just a few of his closest high school
friends. He had many others from college and law school,
Andy, Rob, Vinnie, Adam, and Dan. His friends from Colorado
and DC, Eric and Jen. If I've forgotten anyone, please
forgive me. You know how much Scott loved you all, and he is
honored here by your presence.
[[Page H1472]]
Of all the things that Scott gave me, the one thing I think
will most sustain me is his sense of humor. We laughed hard.
He had an array of talents in impersonations. He perfectly
imitated the President's ``I'm the governor of Texas'' line.
With his jokes, Scott could bring tears to my eyes. Mike
Myers was one of his favorite comedians, and Scott did the
best impression of Fat Bastard (Can I say that in church?)
Please forgive me. He loved South Park, the Jerky Boys, and
did a mean impression of James Brown.
Now, people pass away every minute of every day, but I find
it especially fitting, that we are gathered here on Holy
Saturday, the day the Christian faith weeps over the loss of
our Lord's only son. We weep with God, but like Jesus, Scott
is not sad. We are the ones that are sad. You see, Scott is
already with God. The moment his last breath left his body on
Monday, March 25th, was the moment that Jesus took his hand
and brought him home to a beautiful place, to a place where
Scott could be with his grandfather, uncle, Farfie, and Fritz
and, as his friend Vin pointed out, all the philosophers and
political theorists. In fact, he might not even be listening
to us now because he's too busy telling off Rousseau.
Scott, we feel your presence with us, and we will love you
and keep you in our hearts forever.
____________________